Two Challenges in One

Subtle Changes Over Time

I decided to combine two of my favourite scrapbook challenge sites. Firstly;

Alexandra Polyzou Γειά σας a DT member over at Scrap Around The World from Greece, has created the softest, pinkest and prettiest mood board I've ever seen!

I always think of my baby photos when I see this pale pink used and I felt a black and white photo would suit this colouring beautifully. Then I realised the layout suggested to use three photos. 

Conundrum! Do I use three baby photos? My baby photos are not the best quality, only the studio ones and I don't have much to choose from. Then I had a brain wave.

 I remembered I had an old high school photo I'd found while cleaning up some stuff the other day. It was B&W and would match the baby photo well. So all I needed was a NOW photo. 

My DT photo for Off the Rails Scrapbook Challenge Blog is also B&W. There you go, the perfect trio!

Looking closely at them, I noticed I haven't really changed much over the years. Just got bigger really. So there was my theme "Subtle changes over time". which also fits perfectly with the Japanese Cherry Blossom and it's subtle changes over the season. 

And secondly I was inspired by;

The very talented Zeneva Kovic, Sketch Artist, Team Co-ordinator and blog host over at Kreative Koncepts (formally known as ScrapFriends) once again produced an amazing and challenging sketch.

I flipped it. As I usually do and yes Lizzy, I know. I must start challenging myself to scrap from right to left and not just left to right. lol. Maybe next one hey?

So much background work in this piece. I started with a layer of white gesso then added water colour and allowed it to dry overnight. The next day I wiped off the dry gesso from the centre of the page leaving a distinct "L" shape and a splash of colour in the top right hand corner. I wish I'd taken photos now, it left a really cool effect.

 Then I layered strips of torn book pages along the "L" shape and up in the feature corner, then covered them in white gesso, then stamped and rolled and added some more water colour on top, then stamped some more until I was finally happy with it. And then after coming back to it from allowing it to dry ....... I added some stencilling with modelling paste. But that's all. Honest. LOL

I finished it off by adding some bling, washi, buttons, twine, chippies, doilies, cheese cloth and a few paper flowers. then of course the title. This page took me ages! and I loved every minute of it (well mostly). Can't wait to see what's put up for the new challenges over at Kreative Koncepts and Scrap Around the World in April.

Cheers

Fiona

xx

ScrapFriends Guest Designer March Colour Challenge

Colour Challenge

I just love ScrapFriends (Kreative Koncepts) challenges. I try to enter them each month. I've been lucky enough to be picked to create a guest designer piece a couple of times now and this time it's for their March colour challenge. This is my piece.

The colours are so beautiful and the gold just finishes it all off.

I used water colour techniques to create the background along with some texture stenciling, Dylusions Sprays and stamping.

I was unsure about adding the gold elements. It's not something I've done much of. Firstly I made some gold circles with jewelry wire but I felt that wasn't enough so I added more with gold sequins, gold edged ribbon and some gold glitter I added to the feather stamp. I also have a gold Gelato Pen which looks beautiful when water is added to it.

This is currently my Facebook ID photo. I took it one evening while settling my daughter into Uni in Melbourne. I got bored and so I went hunting on Playstore for a new photo editing app. I've been experimenting with altering my photos to match my layouts. I love that my hair is pink in this photo. It's not really that colour. Although it's tempting! LOL

I don't do very many "pretty" pages. Especially not of myself, so it was nice to create one for a change. I'm also really enjoying using feathers on my layouts. Whether they be stamped like these ones, chipboard, resin or real, it doesn't really matter. As long as they are feathers. I would never have imagined 12 months ago that I would be using feathers on my pages let alone being asked to join in as a guest designer on a challenge blog! I suppose you just never know what life has to bring when you take on a challenge.

Pop on over to ScrapFriends (Kreative Koncepts) and checkout the challenge. It may lead you anywhere xx

Cheers

Fiona

Off the Rails Blog Hop

Welcome

So awesome of you to join us on the first ever blog hop for "Off the Rails Scrapbooking".

My creation for the hop is a layout in green and pink. My favourite embellishment I've incorporated into my layout is "using Shrinky Dinks".

I use Shrinky Dink or Shrink Paper on heaps of my layouts. It's a great way to make the perfect embellishment. Making them is really easy and lots of fun. I purchase my shrink paper off of eBay but some craft stores stock it.

You can print on the rough side of the shrink paper by feeding it through an inkjet printer. You just have to make sure the picture is lightened or it comes out really dark. Alternatively you can stamp straight onto the shiny side of the shrink paper. I use Stazon Ink.

After cutting out the stamped image you can shrink it a couple of ways. You can put it in a hot oven for a couple of minutes or you can heat it with a heat gun.

It will shrivel up to begin with but then as it gets smaller and smaller it begins to flatten out. You can give it that last little flatten, by pushing on it with the back of the wooden stamp while it's still hot or an acrylic stamp block. Be careful......it is still very hot!

As you can see, it shrinks  7 times smaller it's size and 7 times thicker.

I've used 3 of Daniel Torrente designer stamps that I purchased not long ago from Stampotique. The Shrinky Dinks are made from a stamp called "3 in a Round". The background heart stamp is called "Daniel's Hearts" and the wings on the creepy butterfly are called "Lovely Wings". His designs are not for every occasion but every now and then, the right project comes along!

You might like to choose my Shrinky Dink embellishment technique to add to your project for the competition.

Here is what you need to do to be in the prize draw ......

1.  Become a follower of Off the Rails Scrapbooking Blog. You can follow the link to it from HERE.

2.  Visit all the Design Team's blogs, leave a comment on and become a follower of each one. You can click on the next one below (Felicity Wilson) I've put a list of them below with a link to each one :)

3. Create one LO/Card/Project using 4 of the Design Team's favorite embellishments and in your post, tell us what they are and which Design Team member's favorite it is and upload it to the Off the Rails Blog via the Linkz tool. (I'm Fiona and my favourite embellishment is "Shrinky Dinks")

4. At the very end of your hop, leave us a comment at the Off the Rails Blog, tell us how the hop went for you, let us know what you love best about our challenges and lastly what you would like to see in the future for our challenges and tutorials.

Off the Rails Scrapbooking Blog
2. Narelle Fasulo - Flowers
3. Deena Otway - Buttons
4. Erin Manz Reed - Brads
5. Diana Rivero Gonzalez - Flowers
6. Carol Theng - Chipboard shape
7. Gayle Gordon - Bling
8. Fiona Paltridge - Shrinky Dinks YOU ARE HERE :)
9. Felicity Wislon - Flowers THIS IS WHERE YOU GO NEXT :)
10. Sue Plumb - Doilies
11. Rose Andrew - Tags
12. Jelissa Mei - Chipboard
13. Wendy O'Keeffe - washi tape
13. Catie Kennedy - Twine

REMEMBER, BEFORE YOU LEAVE, YOU NEED TO COMMENT ON MY POST TOO xx. This confirms that you've completed the whole hop as this is part of the criteria to be eligible for the prize at the end. 

And speaking of prizes!!!!!!! This is what you could win.

You could win this amazing prize pack from the Graphic 45 collection "By the Sea"

It includes:

1X 12x12 Paper Pad

1X 8x8 Paper Pad

1X page of Stickers

1X page of Die Cuts and

1X page of Chipboard Pieces

Graphic 45 is an award-winning scrapbook and paper crafting company. We offer vintage inspired crafting products that capture the flamboyant style of the 1920's and 30's - with vibrant color, irresistible texture and imaginative design to create products with decades-old appeal that's both fresh and familiar. Let our products inspire your next scrapbook layout, card, album or home decor project.

The blog hop started March 14th and it will end Midnight on March 21, 2014 US EST. That's only 1 week!!

So get hopping and creating and most of all have fun xx

Cheers

Fiona xx

WW1 March Challenge Entry

Latte

Again White With One has come to the challenge blog party with their amazing colour challenge .... LATTE!

I was so excited when I saw this colour that my brain immediately began scheming what to create. Last month was grape, which for many is a lovely colour. Maybe just not for me but latte on the other hand. Latte I can do! hey I'm not saying my attempt at purple (sorry Grape lol) was bad or anything, It's just not a favourite colour of mine and we all know how much easier it is to scrap the colours we love.

That's why I do these challenges. 

Because they stretch my creative ability. I was really going to enjoy creating a latte layout, it wasn't really going to be so challenging as say Tangerine or Grape so I upped the difficulty and went camping with my scrap gear!

This is Lake Ratzcastle near Edenhope in Victoria. A beautiful little spot for camping and scrapping. The weather was perfect and so I set myself up on a picnic table in front of the Lake and scrapped all morning.

As you can see from the step by step pictures, I layered my background first with modelling paste over a circle stencil then water colour, then modelling paste with the same stencil over the water colour and then finally Distress Ink rubbed over another stencil. You must allow each step to dry thoroughly before trying to do the next step. This was not a long wait in the sunshine but at home it may take a couple of hours. You can use a heat gun to speed up the process but it will inevitably buckle your paper.

I also modified some of my embellishments to coordinate with the latte colour. This ornamaental frame from "Merci" is pewter, which is lovely but not going to suit my layout. So I gesso it and then colour it with the water colours I am using on the background so it all ties in.

I hadn't intended to use feathers on this layout but during my morning walk of the Lake I collected a small amount of them so they inadvertently became part of the creation but again I coloured them to coordinate with the layout. I used Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.

I always love to add black script stamping to all of my lay outs. It's a thing I do ...... this is one of my favourites from Kaszazz (pg 106), it's called "Reason, Season, Lifetime" and even though you don't get to really read the words on the page, they are some of the best I've ever read.

I added some little paper flowers that I picked up in Cheap as Chips that are made from brown paper and have little wooden buttons in their middle. Peeeerrrrfect! and I also addded some Kaiser Craft wooden flourish.

 The butterly is from a "Stampin Up" set. I stamped it onto the back of some brown card and edged it with "Gathered Twiggs" Distress Ink. I also added a cut doily coloured with the water paints and a 2Crafty chipboard little doily that I painted with white gesso.

I love the way this page turned out and even more so I love how and where I got to make it.

Thank you WW1 again for your amazing inspirational challenges.

Cheers

Fiona

If you want to keep up to date with my challenge entries and Design team creations, you can follow me on face book HERE xx

Off the Rails March Challenge "Bling it Up"

Bling it Up

For the first half of march, the Off the Rails Scrapbooking challenge is to create a page using BLING!

Easy peasy. I Looooooove bling! I used gold as my bling thing. The gold highlights on the texture pasted stencilling were achieved by brushing Gold Perfect Pearls over it at it's tacky stage during the drying process.

I used gold thread that I unraveled from a gold piece of Christmas wrapping ribbon.

The beads were applied to the frame cutout by adding small dobs of glossy accents glue around the outside and then placing it face down in a bowl of gold beads. Same way you would add sprinkles to a cup cake.

The sponsor for this challenge is Hobbies from the Heart. The winner, selected by the Creative team, can win a voucher to spend $15 over at Hobbies from the Heart.

So I hope you give it a go.

Cheers

Fiona

My Favourite Song from my Teens

That Ballad!

Once again, over at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge, they have come up with the ultimate scrapping challenge theme. 

This month it's Scrap or Art journal about your favourite song in your teens. 

Easy ...........  I was 14, almost 15 and it was the summer of 1986/87

My brother, sister and I would always get an album as part of our Christmas present package and mine was "1987 Let's Party". On the album were top hits from 1986 such as Bananarama "Venus", Huey Lewis and the News "Stuck With You", The Reels "Bad Moon Rising", Joe Cocker "You Can Leave Your Hat On" and many many other awesome songs but my favourite was "I Died in Your Arms" by the Cutting Crew. Over and over and over I would place the needle back to the fifth track until my Dad would come in and threaten to confiscate the album because he couldn't possibly listen to that "Blasted song" one more time!

Ahh memories.

The best thing about creating this page was reliving the memories that came back to me as I thought about that summer break. I loved that song so much that I can still sing it word for word. Yep, sad I know but I'm sure you're all thinking of a song that was your favourite hit at 15 lol and I bet you can still sing it!

I used a sketch from the ScrapFriends range (I love their unique and amazing sketches).

For those who have not had the pleasure of listening to this wonderful song, or for those who haven't heard it for years, here it is. Original flim clip and all. Oh My and to think I thought Nick Van Eede was a real hotty!! Bahahahahahahah

I don't have many if any photos from when I was this age except for school year book ones and well, let's not go there, so I decided to scrap the cover of the single (which I also purchased), the single itself and a photo of the band. I combined black Gesso into my texture paste for the stenciling and stuck with the green and orange combination from the single cover and single.

I wanted this page to look real grungy because that was my style back then. Ripped jeans, wide neck t-shirt, just above the shoulder permed bob hair cut with a rats tail (please don't judge me, I was young and I thought I looked cool!) and black doc marten's. Seriously, I WAS Molly Ringwald. I LOOOOVED the Breakfast Club!

Life changed dramatically for me in early 1987 when only days before I turned 15 my parents separated and I moved from a small country town to a city. Having to settle into a new school in year 10 was pretty terrifying. It was made easier for me when I met a quiet young saxophone player who became my best friend. Luckily he stuck around long enough to marry me :). This was our song xx

Fiona xx

Another freaking Scrappy Challenge

February Sketch challenge

I have to admit, I was attracted to the name Another freaking Scrappy Challenge and then when I read their blog I fell in love with what they believe and how they play. Then I realised there was only 4 hours until their Mr Linky closed!!!!!

So I made a stagger to the studio on a Saturday morning to try and get a piece in on time. And I made it!!

This is my take on the sketch and their philosophy of "all about me". Their Bio reads;

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO SCRAP ABOUT YOURSELF SO THAT THOSE YOU LOVE WILL KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR MEMORIES.  HOWEVER, THE WHOLE IDEA IS INSPIRATION.

This to me is what scrapbooking is all about. The stories, the recording for future generations. Well this is me! and I'm a dreamer, a drama queen and a crafty creature who always has her head in the clouds.

The sketch....... also a gem!

Yes. yes I know it's back to front. I flipped it. For some unknown reason I can only scrap with large piece on the left and little piece on the right. A little bit of OCD I think.

I think you'll agree this page depicts my statement about me well LOL!

Seriously. I have know idea what I used on this LO. I whipped it up literally with what scraps and bits I had sitting in front of me on my table. I think some Kaszazz papers are in their. Definitely the wing is Tim Holtz grunge board. The chippies are Um Wow Studio and of course I've used Dylusions Ink Sprays and Distress Inks because I always do.

I am a dreamer but you know what, i'm also a doer! Go figure LOL!

And I "Always have my head in the clouds" hence the journalling I hand wrote on this page.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my challenge piece. I really enjoyed piecing it together.

Another big shout out to ANOTHER FREAKING SCRAPPY CHALLENGE because I reckon they're awesome XXXX

Cheers
Fiona